function ds = setfile(ds, desc_string, varargin)
   %SETFILE associates a datasource object with a file (or directory)
   %   ds = setfile(ds, descriptor_string, [var1, var2, ... varN])
   %   where;
   %   - DS is the datasource object
   %   - DESCRIPTOR_STRING is a format statement, like that from sprintf.
   %   - var1...varN are optional variable names that are used to fill in the
   %     information from the format statement.
   %      valid variable names (of type integer, or format string of '%d')
   %         YEAR, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, JDAY (<-- julian day)
   %
   %      valid variable names (of type string, or format string of '%s')
   %         station, channel, location, network
   %
   %   this provides a powerful tool that allows the program to navigate a
   %   wide variety of files and directories based upon date or SCNL
   %   information.
   %
   % ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   % EXAMPLE #1:
   % Assume data files are stored in the following directories:
   %   /DATA/year2006/04/OKCF.dat
   %   /DATA/year2006/04/OKFG.dat
   %   /DATA/year2006/05/OKCF.dat
   %   ...etc...
   %
   %  To find any given peice of data requires the year, month (zero padded!),
   %  and the station name.
   %
   %  You can specify which file to use by setting the filename as follows:
   %  ds = setfile(ds,'/DATA/year%04d/%02d/%s.dat','year','month','station');
   %
   %  * notice that each percent sign (%) has a corresponding term.  That is:
   %    %04d --> 'year',   %02d --> 'month', and %s -->'station'
   %  * The numbers and symbols between the '%' and the first alphabetic
   %    character provide additional formatting details.
   %    * any number greater than zero means "use up this many spaces"
   %    * a leading zero means "fill up leading space with zeros"
   %
   %    ex. %04d -> write the number with 4 spaces, and pad with zeros.
   %
   % ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   % EXAMPLE #2:
   % The method waveform/which_archive can be supplanted by
   % the following setfile call...
   % ds = setfile(ds, ...
   %            '/iwrun/op/db/archive/archive_%04d/archive_%04d_%02d_%02d',...
   %            'year','year','month','day')
   % - - - -
   % For access to a specific, date independent, SCNL independent database:
   % ds = setfile(ds,'mydatabasename');
   %
   % see also sprintf, datasource/getfilename
   
   
   if ~exist('desc_string','var') || isempty(desc_string)
      ds.usefile = false;
      ds.file_string = {};
      ds.file_args = {};
      return
   end
   
   % the number of arguments should equal the number of %somethings
   % ... except where '%' is preceded by a  '\'
   n = find(desc_string == '%');
   z=0; %currently not accepting % in filename!!!
   %z = sum('\'== desc_string(n(n>2)-1));
   expectedArgumentCount = numel(n) - z;
   if numel(varargin) ~= expectedArgumentCount
      error('Datasource:FileArgumentMismatch', ...
         'the number of file arguments provided (%d) doesn''t match the number of arguments requested by the filestring %d',...
         numel(varargin),expectedArgumentCount);
      
   end
   varargin = lower(varargin);
   
   %check to be sure arguments are valid
   validVariables = {'year', 'month', 'day', 'hour', 'minute', 'second',...
      'station', 'channel','location','network', 'jday'};
   for i=1:numel(varargin)
      if ~ismember(varargin{i},validVariables)
         error('Datasource:FileArgumentError',...
            'unrecognized file argument [%s].',varargin{i});
      end
   end
   
   ds.file_string = desc_string;
   ds.file_args = varargin;
   ds.usefile = true;
end